The Australian Federal Election is happening in May, and we’re starting to get a clearer idea of what this will mean for property prices across the country. Traditionally, elections are a quiet time for real estate as buyers and sellers opt to ‘ride out the storm’ of new or promised policy that’ll be affecting the industry.
But this year looks like it’ll be different. Let’s take a look at the election and its effect on Brisbane real estate.
More Certainty to the Property Market
Remember when Bill Shorten came barging in saying he was going to rub out negative gearing and halve the capital gains tax discount? It basically sunk his election campaign, but it also sent tremors through the real estate industry, a response to the major changes to policy that could have been set into place.
If anything, that election showed us the importance of real estate to Australians. Bill Shorten went from being a shoo-in to the top job to being yesterday’s news, his defeat precipitated by aggressive property policy.
This year, both parties are taking a more restrained approach with their proposed policy changes. There is bipartisan support for retaining negative gearing, and according to Proptrack economist Angus Moore “ there aren’t a lot of housing-specific policies that have been flagged for the election, so we’re unlikely to see that weighing on either side of the market.
Neither party has flagged any major changes to housing policy that would affect either how first-home buyers were going to approach the market or investors or existing vendors looking to upgrade.”
This is offering more certainty to the real estate market, which is a welcome change after the insecurity the last election brought with it.
What Real Estate Policies are on the Table?
According to Real Estate Institute of Australia president Hayden Groves, policies hold positive news for all sectors of the industry.
“There’s good news in terms of supporting people into their first home and there’s good news about supporting investors into property by not having potential laws that would curb that sort of activity,” he said.
These are indicators that both major parties are interested and engaged in supporting a resilient property market. Federal programs like the Home Guarantee Scheme, the First Home Guarantee Scheme and the Regional Home Guarantee Scheme will help with housing affordability, particularly with Australians looking to buy their first home.
Labor have similar policies in mind if they win the election, including a $10-billion Housing Australia Future Fund to build 30,000 new affordable properties in five years.
Whichever party gets in, it’s clear housing and rental affordability is an issue they’ll need to tackle in a manner that doesn’t have massive negative reverberations throughout the industry.
The State of the Market
What can we expect of the Australian housing market between now and the election next month then? Well, as we said, not much is going to change. After a record setting upward trend over the last year, there has been an understandable and natural slowing to the market. This has been particularly evident in Melbourne and Sydney, with the Brisbane property market holding a bit firmer.
We expect this strength in Brisbane to continue, as people are continually drawn to the multiple attractions and more affordable prices of The Sunshine State. Our advice is to not let the elections influence your decision making when it comes to purchasing property in Brisbane. Do what is right for you and what fits your progress in life at the time. The most important thing is you move onto your next chapter successfully.
If you have any questions how to do that or feel The Henry Wong Team® can help out in any way, please get in touch with us. We’ve been successfully helping families and investors with their real estate decisions for many years now, and would love to help you too.
